1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multiple-layout designation method capable of rapidly and easily effecting preparatory work for automatic preparation of NC data which is employed for machining of machined objects of an identical contour.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has been conventionally known to arrange contours, which are identical to each other, in position on a graphic display by utilizing a multiple-layout (multi-cavity) duplication method for duplicating a desired number of times a single contour displayed on the graphic display. This technique has been adopted, e.g., in the field of metal mold designing. Also, it has been known to prepare numerical control (NC) data employed for machining of machined objects, having contours arranged on the display in the above manner, by the use of an automatic programming device. In this case, an operator makes the programming device recognize the original contour and each of the duplicated contours, defines a name of each of the contours, and then sequentially sets machining conditions respectively associated with these names. After such preparatory work is finished, NC data associated with each of the names is automatically prepared by means of the programming device based on the contour and the machining condition concerned.
According to the conventional method, it is required to individually define the names respectively corresponding to the contours which are identical to each other, and to set the machining conditions respectively associated with these names. Thus, the preparatory work for the NC data preparation requires time and labor.